


The best risotto

by kuron_10



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Holiday, M/M, Shiro's a horrible cook, cooking course
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 09:39:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18775660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuron_10/pseuds/kuron_10
Summary: Shiro had to do this. No garlic meant no risotto. No risotto meant he would be the only one in this cooking course without food. And damn it, he wanted food. He was in Italy for heaven’s sake, enjoying his very first holiday with Curtis in the most beautiful region Tuscany. He could do this!





	The best risotto

**Author's Note:**

> Curtashi Week of Firsts: First Holiday
> 
> Illustration made by the sweetest captain agi; Twitter: @agininetwo

“You want to place the side of your knife on the garlic clove and give it a quick whack with the palm of your hand. Then peel the skin off the garlic clove.”

Shiro looked a bit lost. Knife. Garlic. Quick whack. Everything at once. He looked over to the other cooking students and everyone seemed to have gotten it already. Sighing softly he turned to Curtis next to him, “I do not get it. How should I hold the knife?”

“Like this I think”, Curtis said, carefully removing his hand from the knife and showing the perfectly peeled and crushed garlic, “You just put it on the garlic and give it a whack.”

Shiro turned to his garlic again. He had to do this. No garlic meant no risotto. No risotto meant he would be the only one in this cooking course without food. And damn it, he wanted food. He was in Italy for heaven’s sake, enjoying his very first holiday with Curtis in the most beautiful region Tuscany. He could do this!

Shiro carefully put his metallic hand on the knife, just like Curtis did and gave it a quick whack. Like everyone else.  
His quick whack made an awfully loud sound though; a metallic deep thud before a soft high pinched noise. That was the garlic, flying across the room like a bullet. It hit the chef right into his big round belly. The scary Italian chef, that already glared so angrily at Shiro. “What are you doing?!” He didn’t look amused, unlike Curtis next to him.

[](https://ibb.co/6RCZCnS)

“Uhm”, Shiro shrugged. He had no idea what he was doing actually.

Curtis quickly turned his head away, but Shiro could see his shoulders quivering. The traitor was holding back his laughter. The chef came storming to their table. He wasn’t really tall. He was actually small, his head barely reached Shiro’s shoulders, but his body stature was strong. He was the owner of the restaurant – a well-known place for wonderful dishes, and the reason why they had chosen him. His black hair already showed signs of grey streaks – Shiro was not sure, if they had already been there before he had attended the cooking course, but now they were definitely there. He was a nice and friendly man, but gave off a Hunk-vibe when it came to food.

“I… I prepared the garlic”, Shiro eventually answered and slowly removed his hand.  
The knife was severely bent and was stuck in the cutting board. 

The chef fumed, “You missed the garlic!”  
He grabbed another garlic clove, “You need another knife. And another cutting board!”  
“I… I will pay for it”, Shiro muttered shamefacedly. 

The chef stared at him.  
“And I will switch to my left hand.”  
“You better!” The chef grabbed a new wooden cutting board and a knife and dropped it in front of Shiro.

Wordlessly Curtis put an already prepared garlic clove on the new cutting board once the chef had turned his back on them. Shiro looked at Curtis; he was still avoiding his gaze, his lips suspiciously twitching.

“You enjoy this”, Shiro murmured to his boyfriend.  
“More than you can imagine.”

“Now that we all have the garlic” – an angry glace at Shiro – “place the garlic in the garlic press. Squeeze carefully through and cut it off with knife. Carefully.”

“Why do I have the feeling this carefully is aimed especially at me?” Shiro murmured.  
“Because it is!” The chef stood in front of him again. “Now, slowly. Carefully. These knives are expensive! And we haven’t gotten many spare garlic presses.”

Shiro managed – barely, but managed. The chef still glared at him suspiciously, before moving on.

“He doesn’t like me”, Shiro whispered to Curtis.  
“He’s a teacher, he has to be strict. And for the record, you did break the knife. And the cutting board. And you accidentally smashed the wine bottle – the expensive one – when he asked us to open it. And I think the door to the wine cellar is indeed not closing properly anymore.”  
“I can’t help it, why are these doors so… so…”  
“Old and weak against your strong arm? The door has existed for more than 500 years, it had to break sooner or later. It met you and well… it happened sooner.”  
Shiro grunted. Curtis chuckled.

“Next we cut the onions!” Shiro made a puppy whine.

“I am sorry, this cooking course was my idea”, Curtis whispered, “I just thought it’s something special to do when we are in Florence.”  
“No, it was a lovely idea”, Shiro admitted, “I was so happy when you suggested it. I just… I just hoped a chef could teach me how to cook. A tiny little bit at least.”

Shiro concentrated hard on that damn onion. His left hand was not cooperating at all. His cut missed the onion and hit his finger – if the hand hadn’t been made of metal, the finger would have been cut off. Still it startled him, he could – _feel_ – the knife against his finger after all. He withdrew his hand fitfully, knocking over the oil and the vinegar in front of him.

“It’s alright, it’s alright!” Curtis quickly assured him, reaching for the bottles to avoid more spilling. Another student – a shy girl from France – quickly reached for the kitchen towel to clean up the mess.

The chef groaned deeply before coming back to their table.

“I uh… I slipped”, Shiro said, “The left hand… I’m… I’m not used to cutting with it.”  
The chef grabbed his knife, grabbed the onion and chopped it like a champ, his eyes staring into Shiro’s, not even once looking at the onion.  
“There. Your onion.” The chef stared at him for another 30 seconds before finally leaving the table again. 

Curtis breathed heavily to keep him from laughing out loud.  
“At least you have fun”, Shiro hissed.  
“Sorry darling… but think about the risotto… it will be worth it.”  
“It better will.”

The chef pointed to their pans, “Alright, now we will gently roast the garlic, the onion and the already seasoned shrimps.”  
Shiro reached for a shrimp.  
“It still has its head. And its shell.”  
“We roast it with the head and the shell”, the chef said, “These are fresh. Not deep fried like the trash you probably eat in the USA.”

Shiro leaned over to Curtis, “Is he mocking us?”  
“He is.”

They put them into their pans and carefully watched them roasting. “2 minutes! Not longer! Always stir. We just want them to turn pink.”

“You are turning pink from holding back all the laughter and you are not being roasted”, Shiro muttered to Curtis, “I am being roasted by the chef and I am not turning pink.”  
Curtis snickered, “Not yet.”

“Alright, this looks good”, the chef carefully glanced at Shiro’s pan and seemed satisfied, “Now, let’s take the shrimps out. We peel and devein them now. We still need the head and the shell, so keep them.”

Shiro sighed as he reached for the shrimps. Again his fingers were way too large and too bulky to do that. Luckily this was Curtis’ moment. His slender and long fingers worked magically fast. And as soon as he was done with his, he reached for Shiro’s and quickly peeled and deveined them before the chef could notice.

“You are a life saver”, Shiro whispered and gently kissed Curtis’ cheek.  
“Just making sure we can stay till the end”, Curtis said, “I really want that risotto.” He gently kissed Shiro’s cheek as well.

“Now take the head and the shell and put it into the pot. We roast them now with olive oil”, the chef said, showing it with Curtis’ prepared ingredients, “This will be the fond.”

“Finally this stuff is going somewhere. Cooking is so stressful. How can Hunk do that every single day”, Shiro said, reaching for his wine glass and emptying it with one big gulp.  
“No wait!” Curtis watched Shiro drink the wine with wide eyes.  
“What?” Shiro asked puzzled.

“We add the wine to it now”, the chef said, carefully watching the pots of the students. Shiro stared at his empty glass. “Oh no.”  
Curtis snickered some more.  
“I thought this was to keep the nerves”, Shiro sighed, “Who would have guessed we need it for the stupid risotto.”

“More Problems?” The chef already came back to them, staring at Shiro.  
“Well yes, I… I… I was thirsty”, Shiro said and showed him his empty wine glass.

The chef took it from him, energetically, while muttering and whispering in Italian. Neither Shiro nor Curtis could understand a word, but the way the chef spoke gave them a feeling he was not praising Shiro.

The chef poured the white wine into the pot, staring at Shiro angrily. “Now, we add the vegetable stock”, the chef said and before Shiro could reach for it, he slapped on Shiro’s metal arm and did it himself, “It will have to cook for half an hour now.”

 

Shiro stared into his pot, “Well… I need a break now anyway.”

“I usually talk with the students during that time. Where they are from, what they do here… to get to know them better. After all we will spend the next two days with each other as well. So, please introduce yourself.”

He pointed at the shy girl, “Monique. Please tell us about yourself.”  
She just shrugged, “My name is Monique, I am from Amiens. My fiancée is from Italy and I want to learn to cook his favourite dishes to surprise him.”  
“That’s nice”, the chef said, “You are her friend, right?”  
“Yes”, the second girl nodded, “I’m Cecile and I thought this was a really nice idea. Also I wanted to enjoy Italian food.”

“Very well, if any of you have any questions, you can always come to me. I can still adjust the menu if you have any special wishes. I do not only want to teach you one recipe, I want to teach you about food, how to treat it, how to enjoy it.”

“I enjoy wine”, Shiro muttered. Curtis snickered.

“What about you two?” the chef asked, turning to them, “Please introduce yourself. Also tell me the billing address for the knife and the cutting board.”

“Well, my name is Shiro, I’m from the US and well… uhm… I’m the captain of the IGF Atlas and I’m not very often on earth, so… uh…”  
“And you do not cook very often”, the chef added, “At least I hope so.”  
“No, we have a chef on board”, Shiro said, “I have never been good at cooking.”  
The chef nodded.

“The cooking course was my idea”, Curtis said, “My name is Curtis, and we are here together. It’s actually our first holiday together, so we wanted it to be very special. We decided on Italy because friends suggested it to us. I liked the idea of a cooking course, so the holiday is not only filled with sightseeing, but also getting to know the cuisine better. And I thought when we are back in space, it would be nice to cook together every once in a while, and remember the days we have spent here.”  
“You two are a couple?”  
Curtis and Shiro nodded.  
“You travel to space together?”  
Both nodded again.  
“I give you one advice now”, the chef said, coming closer, “If you do not want to end up dead in space, you should always be the one cooking, you have talent. And Shiro can… I don’t know. Drink wine. But do not let him cut anything. Or open wine bottles. And I suppose you have sliding doors?”  
Shiro grunted, “Yes.”

“He’s the best pilot the Garrison has ever had”, Curtis said defending his boyfriend, “He’s an amazing captain.” He smiled at Shiro, couldn’t help but adore him. Shiro was so handsome. Even in his panic state during the cooking course – also the apron looked nice on him.  
“Well, he’s an awful cook.”

The chef left the two of them and went to the other students.

“I’m indeed an awful cook”, Shiro agreeing with him, reaching for the wine glass and drinking again. Curtis refrained from reminding him that they still needed the wine for the risotto.

“But you are the best boyfriend, and the best lover I’ve ever had”, Curtis said, reaching for Shiro’s hand, “And I tell you something. When we are done cooking, let’s swap dishes. I want to eat yours.”

“Curtis, I love you. I could never ask you to eat what I cook.”  
Curtis smiled, “I know. I love you too. That’s why I would like to eat your risotto. It might be the only time you’ll be cooking it. Please, let me enjoy it.”

Shiro laughed, a faint blush on his cheek. “You are crazy.”  
“Crazy in love with you”, Curtis corrected him, pulling him closer for a kiss.

“Is our couple done with their love confessions?” The chef interrupted them, frowning a bit, “We still have some work to do before you two can enjoy your risotto.”

“Yush!” Shiro was fired up. “Teach me how to make it perfect, chef! I am cooking for the most important person in my life. I accept nothing but perfection!”  
“Now that’s the spirit!” The chef nodded. “Let’s continue! We can drain the fond now and add some saffron.”

“This sounds like something I can do”, Shiro proudly said, “Just wait, this will be the best risotto ever!”

 

Half an our later the class was sitting on the roof garden of the restaurant, finally done with their first ever cooked risotto. It was a very romantic place, with the sunset over the city, the noises from the city below and the wonderful smell of the risotto. Also they already had enjoyed some wine, so the mood was lively. Shiro couldn’t keep his hands off Curtis, always keeping him close.

“I am glad it all worked out fine in the end”, the chef said, sitting down with them, “And I am glad I had some extra bottles of wine.”  
Shiro sighed, “Again, I am sorry I drank it. Three times. I kept forgetting that the wine is for cooking. I usually only drink it.”

Curtis snickered, kissing Shiro’s nose, “We’ll pay for the extra wine.”  
“And the knife, the cutting board… and we’ll need someone to take a look at the door.” The chef sighed, but he smiled. At least nothing had gone up in flames or exploded. “Are you really sure you want to eat his risotto though?”

Curtis nodded, “Yes. This risotto was made especially for me and I’m not sharing!”  
The chef laughed, shaking his head slightly, “Well, this is true love I guess.”

“It is”, Curtis agreed, smiling happily at Shiro, finally giving it a try. It was the best risotto he had ever had.


End file.
